This book is the result of three symposia of the Dutch Society for Landscape Ecology (in Dutch: WLO, Werkgemeenschap voor Landschaps-ecologisch Onderzoek). The first symposium in 2005 was about the National Ecological Network in the Netherlands. The reason was that the implementation of the NEN, decided upon in 1990, was halfway. The second symposium, in 2006, was about urban ecology and the third one, to be held in 2007, will be about civil infrastructure. This book does not cover the conferences completely and new contributions are added.
The three themes are important contexts in which landscape ecologists do their research and apply their knowledge and skills. Of course, there are many more subjects to hold conferences about, for example climate change, urbanisation, agriculture, landscape ecology itself etc.
The focus of the conference is on the Netherlands, with its urbanisation, intensive land use and water management as characteristic features. Although many WLO members do their work abroad or in an international context, these conferences offer a window on what happens in the Dutch context. The experiences may be of value for other contexts and that is why we present the results in English.
The selected themes and the focus on the Dutch context are serious demarcations of what landscape ecology in the Netherlands is all about. The book does not represent all research and applications of landscape ecology.